For the understanding whereof, let it be considered; that it is one thing for a sin to deserve the wrath and curse of God, and another thing for the sinner to be liable and exposed to it. The former of these arises from the heinous nature of sin, and is inseparable from it; the latter is inconsistent with a justified state. Nothing can take away the guilt of sin, but the atonement made by Christ; and that forgiveness or freedom from condemnation, which God is pleased to bestow as the consequence thereof, Rom. viii. 1, 33. It is this that discharges a believer from a liableness to the wrath and curse of God. Though one sin be greater than another, by reason of various circumstances that attend, or are contained in it, as was observed under the last answer: yet the least sin must be concluded to be objectively infinite, as it is committed against a God of infinite perfection, since all offences are great in proportion to the dignity of the person against whom they are committed. Thus the same sin that is committed against an inferior, or an equal, which deserves a less degree of punishment, if it be committed against a king, may be so circumstanced, as that it will be deemed a capital offence, and render the criminal guilty of high treason; though, at the same time, no real injury is done to, but only attempted against him. In like manner we must conclude, that though it be out of our own power to injure or detract from the essential glory of the great God; yet every offence committed against him is great, in proportion to his infinite excellency; and is therefore said to deserve his wrath and curse. Wrath or anger, when applied to God, is not to be considered as a passion in him, as it is in men; but denotes his will to punish sin committed, which takes its first rise from the holiness of his nature, which is infinitely opposite to it. And the degree of punishment that he designs to inflict, is contained in his law; which, as it denounces threatnings against those who violate it, the sinner is hereby said to be exposed to the curse or condemning sentence thereof, agreeably to the rules of justice, and the nature of the offence. This is what we are to understand, in this answer, by sin’s deserving the wrath and curse of God.